North America
Totem Poles of the First Nations in Vancouver Canada. Photo: Tonya Fitzpatrick
“Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it.”
– Eudora Welty
Explore the history, diverse cultures and traditions of the North American countries of Canada, Mexico and the United States. North American culture reflects both the cultures of its indigenous people- the Native Americans as well as the culture that is influenced by European Colonization.
The United States is the third largest country in the world and one of the most culturally diverse countries of the world. Described as the ‘melting pot‘ of North America , amalgamation of different cultures has given shape to the unique U.S. culture.
Mexico is the most populous state of North America and one of the largest city in the world.
Canada is the largest country of North American region and covering more than half of the continent’s area.
Bedford Peak can be reached via a 12 km (7 miles) roundtrip hike and is located at an elevation of 1161 meters (3800 feet), offering an outstanding 360° view over the surrounding mountain range as well as the adjacent valleys. On days with good visibility, Lake Matthews can even be seen from there. I had a feeling this would be good, gratefully grabbed my purchase, and headed out.
Visiting the beautiful Red Rock Canyon, an often-overlooked national conservation area that is located only 15 miles outside Las Vegas and features hiking and trails, plants and wildlife, outstanding geology and camping.
Birmingham, Alabama is considered ground zero in the civil rights movement. In the 1950s, African-Americans of all ages in Birmingham drew a proverbial line in the sand against racial segregation. Their stories, struggles and ultimate success over Jim Crow laws is on display at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in an effort to keep the stories of this dark chapter in American history alive. Across the street from the Institute is the 16th Street Baptist Church where a 1963 bombing that killed four young girls changed the course of history in Birmingham and America. We will walk through this church that has, today, become a place to unify a community and people from all over the world. 16th Street Baptist Church. Photo: Tonya Fitzpatrick Downtown Birmingham is the home to the Civil Rights Heritage Trail. Kelly Ingraham Park, also known as Freedom Park, was the staging area for many of [...]
The Holocaust Museum in Richmond, Virginia is a dramatic retelling of the events that occurred, focusing heavily on the experiences of the city’s Holocaust survivors.
The route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas may be a heavily traveled highway, but it’s still a long strip of road through the desert of the American Southwest.
I recently spent five months hiking from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. It was an incredible backpacking trip through stunning deserts, mountains, and forests but also a journey of self-discovery. At the same time, my trips were now motivated by self-growth rather than deficiency.
The city of Houston, Texas is currently the fourth largest city in the United States. It serves as a twenty-first century melting pot, welcoming a myriad of cultures, communities, and ethnicities.
I’ll never forget the bright blue skies as I watched an airplane fly into the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001.
The city of El Paso, Texas has a rich historical and cultural role that is reflected in the countries of the United States and Mexico.
In 1865, white settlers in California killed more than 40 Native Americans in what has become known as the Three Knowles Massacre. The remnants of the Yahi tribe fled into the forest and hid. For the next forty years, the last of the Yahi lived in the woods and gradually died off. On August 29, 1911, a group of farmers found an Indian near one of their barns. He was arrested and taken into town. He spoke no English. He was taken to San Francisco to the Museum of Anthropology. There, an astute researcher determined his language was a Yahi dialect. They gave him the name "Ishi" as the Indian would not speak his own name. Ishi is an adopted name that translates to "man" in Yana. He was given this name by anthropologist Alfred Kroeber because it was customary for him to remain silent about his own name until [...]
Kansas City, founded in 1838 (the Missouri side), is a city that has a full and rich history for being in the mellow Mid-West region of the United States.
In a city as teeming with life as New York, it should come as no surprise that there is a similarly populous world six feet under the five boroughs. With so many tourist attractions, New York City’s cemeteries are rarely on most visitors’ top ten lists, but the sheer size of many NYC graveyards, not to mention their famous residents and historic structures, make them some of the city’s most lovely green spaces, despite their morbidity.
